Course overview

As a physical geography student you will be engaging with some of the most important issues facing our planet. You will be studying environmental processes that impact on all our lives and even threaten our very existence. Specifically, issues of sea level rise, flooding, carbon footprints, environmental hazards, global warming and climatic change will play a prominent role in your studies. In addition, you will get the opportunity to consider the recent history of our planet and look at the ways in which we can use evidence to reconstruct past environmental conditions and how such knowledge might inform the future.

This degree is designed to give you the chance to experience a series of contrasting environments and situations in the field. You will learn about how we attempt to manage and conserve our environment and how our physical world seems to be increasingly impacting on our everyday lives. Its flexibility allows you to tailor the course to your own specific interests whilst acquiring a range of skills and experiences that will be of direct benefit in the workplace. Ultimately, you will begin to understand your place in this world and develop the kind of skills and abilities that employers increasingly demand.

Course content

The BSc (Hons) Physical Geography shares a common core curriculum with other undergraduate awards in the geography programme. However, there are ‘signature’ units that focus on physical and environmental geography, supported by geographical information science (GIS). These strive to make your experience as hands on as possible – we like to think this degree is very much concerned with ‘doing’ physical geography in an applied sense and as a result there are many opportunities for practical work in both the laboratory and in the field.

The course is unitised and consists of three academic years. Credit is given for each unit achieved and a range of exit awards are available for those who do not complete the full programme.

Year one

Your first year provides a general foundation with units in physical geography, environmental systems, environmental change and management. In addition, other units consider aspects of GIS along with an elective/optional unit from supporting areas such as astronomy, geology or applied areas like sustainable development and environmental management.

Fieldwork is in the Portsmouth area, but includes studies in the New Forest to the west of Portsmouth and/or to the Isle of Wight. Your first year signature unit, ‘Practical and Field Physical Geography’, offers a taster of the many practical and field methods that are developed further in Year two and Year three units.

Year two

The second year covers geomorphology, soils, meteorology, climatology, biogeography, ecology, conservation, environmental management, environmental change and GIS. Fieldwork in this year is done locally and overseas, helping you to expand your knowledge and practical understanding of other places and environments. Recent locations have included Spain, Malta, Cyprus, Poland, Finland and the Netherlands. Units include:

• Introduction to Climatology
• Spatial Data Acquisition
• Introduction to Geomorphology
• Physical Environmental Hazards
• Geographical Data Modelling
• Introduction to Soils, Ecology and Biogeography

Year three

In the final year you choose a selection of specialised units. Many of these units directly reflect the current research interests of staff, which are at the cutting edge of the subject. A number of units involve the real world application of physical geography through advanced fieldwork. For example, selecting ‘Climatology and Ecology’ will take you to the Cairngorms, while ‘Applied Soils Studies’ is undertaken in the Benelux countries. The unit on ‘Applied Coastal Geomorphology’ will give you the opportunity to experience coastal problems first hand. Option choices include:

• Coastal Environments
• Fluvial Geomorphology
• Mountain Climates
• Experimental Geomorphology
• Quaternary Environmental Change and Reconstruction
• Applied Coastal Geomorphology
• Implementing GIS
• Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing

You will also complete a dissertation (a major piece of independent study) that provides you with an opportunity to obtain valuable research skills and specialise in a topic of interest to you. To support this activity, you will be able to join staff in their field research areas. Recent research expeditions have travelled to arctic Finland, the US Rockies, Iceland, Malta as well as sites within the UK.

Teaching and assessment

We pride ourselves on our studentcentred approach to teaching. As a department, we are keen to keep abreast of new developments in teaching and best practice. We are all committed to a ‘learning through doing’ approach and therefore incorporate fieldwork into our curriculum wherever we can.

Throughout your time with us, we will provide you with the support, enthusiasm and encouragement that you will need to reach your goals. You will engage in a number of class-based teaching formats, from the large lecture to student-centred seminars, workshops, group tutorials and one-toone tuition where needed. All students are assigned a personal tutor, who holds regular small group tutorial sessions so that you can discuss topics with other students. Our tutorial programme runs through all three years of the degree and in your final year you will also have a dissertation supervisor. You will be expected to acquire 120 credits each year and by the end of your degree you should have obtained a total of 360 credits. Although these are most often acquired by studying consecutively for three years, the credit structure is flexible and allows you to take a break from your studies at any point.

To obtain your degree class classification, you will be assessed in a range of ways, some traditional (such as exams and coursework essays), many more innovative (such as portfolios, contributions to electronic discussion forums, web page design, posters, projects and verbal presentations). Mostly, you will be assessed on your individual work, but sometimes you will also be assessed on group work. The breakdown of examination assessment versus coursework assessment will depend upon your choice of units, but it will typically be something in the region of a 40:60 split (exam: coursework).

Career prospects

This course has an excellent reputation, with a wide range of public and private sector employers, for providing graduates with specific geographical skills and knowledge, as well as more general personal and transferable skills. As a result, our graduates are successful in finding good, permanent and rewarding employment in a wide range of vocational situations, including business management, public service, teaching and environmental management. They have gone on to work for environmental consultants, GIS specialists, the Environment Agency, Ordnance Survey, local authorities and a host of employers throughout the world of business and commerce.

An increasing number of our students also choose to go on to further academic study or professional training both within the University and elsewhere.

Facilities and features

The department maintains a number of specialist laboratories containing state-ofthe- art equipment to support specialist learning and teaching activities in all aspects of physical geography, providing some of the best resources anywhere in the UK. These include:

• laser survey technology
• industry-level photogrammetry
• environmental simulation cabinet
• modern laboratory instruments for the assessment of natural waters and materials

You will be encouraged to use all these advanced facilities in your studies.

In addition, you will have access to high specification computing facilities and to our newly extended University Library. Open from 8am to midnight every day during term-time, it supplies a variety of information to help with study and research. The University has also invested substantially in electronic resources. There are in excess of ten thousand electronic journals available, together with thousands of ebooks, which can be accessed across the University campus, at home or wherever there is an internet connection.

Entry requirements

View all the entry requirements for BSc (Hons) Physical Geography for the academic year 2013/14 (opens in new window).